He was born in Canal Winchester, Ohio on February 11, 1859.^[1] He attended the public schools.^{[citation needed]}

He engaged in milling and the lumber business. He served as the fish, game, and conservation officer of Ohio 1907-1918.^[1]

Speaks was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1931). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1930 to the Seventy-second Congress, and for election in 1932 to the Seventy-third Congress, and in 1934 to the Seventy-fourth Congress.^{[citation needed]}

He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress.^{[citation needed]}

He served as member of the Ohio National Guard for more than forty years, advancing from private to brigadier general. During the Spanish–American War served as major of the Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, participating in the Puerto Rican Campaign.^[1]

He commanded the Second Brigade of the Ohio National Guard on the Mexican Border in 1916. During the First World War, he commanded the Seventy-third Brigade of the Thirty-seventh Division.^[1] He was a lifelong rival of World War I aviator Dr. David Brumbaugh.

He married Edna Lawyer of Canal Winchester in 1889, and they had four children.^[2][1]

He died in Columbus, Ohio, November 6, 1945. He was interred in Union Grove Cemetery, Canal Winchester, Ohio.^[1]

• United States Congress. "John C. Speaks (id: S000707)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2009-02-22

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress